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Untitled Document
Fan Control And Voltmeter
The fan control was initially a bit disappointing, as the adjustment range
only goes from 6 to 10 volts. I couldn't find a preset on the back for the lowest
allowable voltage, but I found it when I opened the unit up. Even with the adjuster
turned down, it only went down to 5 volts.
The fan controller uses a circuit that seems to be almost identical to the
design I use, which I wrote an article on which you can read here.
It uses exactly the same IC, an LM317T. The rest of the control circuit is very
similar, but uses different value resistors to my design, hence the more limited
adjustment range. However, coolermasters choice of voltage control chip means
that it can support 18 watts worth of fans.
The fan voltage meter does a good job of showing the voltage the fan is running
at, but personally I would have preferred to have the dial monitor the fan RPM,
rather than the voltage.
VU Meter
The VU meter uses a passthrough cable to take the signal from the sound card,
and then needs you to adjust the sensitivity slider to make the needle jump
up and down with the music. Of course, this renders the scale on the dial, with
its carefully marked numbers of decibels, totally meaningless. However, it does
look good, even if the readouts don't mean anything. The needle dances and skips
across the dial quite happily, and certainly does look convincing. The passthrough
cable it uses is something rather less than 100% oxygen free copper cable, and
will certainly not meet the approval of the audiophiles. These same people will
no doubt scoff at the whole idea of a volume meter that is entirely relative,
so it doesn't really matter, as they wouldn't want to use this feature anyway.
I must say I experienced no drop in sound quality using the passthrough cable,
and the antics of the needle are amusing, if meaningless.
Temperature Readout
The temperature sensor is packaged in a very thin piece of plastic, enabling
you to fit it into small gaps. To test the accuracy of the temperature readout,
I taped both the musketeer sensor, and my Soltek motherboard's sensor to my
CPU sink. The digital probe read 35, and the needle on the musketeer was in
a spot that I would estimate as 32 degrees. The temperature dial is only marked
off at every 10 degrees, and the scale is far from linear, with the distance
between markings varying wildly. The 60 and above range is marked in red, and
so easily lets you know if you are reaching dangerous temperatures. However,
if you want a more accurate reading, you will need to squint closely at the
dial, and hazard a guess. You can rely on it being accurate to within 5 degrees,
which is okay for monitoring purposes, though it would be useless for trying
to fine tune your cooling.
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